‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
High Heat
By Peter Molenaar The weather we”'ve endured recently has produced the oft heard comment: “It”'s not the heat, it”'s the humidity”. Well, OK. Let”'s bear in mind, however, that temperature is a measurement of how energetically molecules are vibrating. Note: In the desert we feel comfortable even at relatively elevated temperatures. Why? Dry air is less dense, i.e. has fewer molecules vibrating against the skin and so manifests less “heat”. Conversely, humid air manifests more heat. So then, its not the humidity, it”'s the heat (more heat). Right? (more…)
What”'s in a Name?
By Peter Molenaar 13,000 years ago the great glacier, which had covered these parts for many thousands of years, began to recede. Giant ice boulders left among the drift created the holes which became our lakes. One such lake would come to be called Mde Maka Ska. The people migrated northward with the receding ice. Those who remained in this neighborhood began to alter the landscape with the repeated use of fire. Forest undergrowth was reduced. Pockets of prairie and oak savannah were expanded. Buffalo befriended the curious deer. Time passed”¦ In 1803, the United States purchased “ownership” of this area from France. In 1805, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike acquired from the Dakota the site which would become Fort Snelling. In 1817, the then Secretary of War, one John C. Calhoun, sent in an army to survey the surroundings. Having located Mde Maka Ska, the troops decided to call her “Lake Calhoun”. (more…)
Thor and Pandora
by Peter Molenaar To the ancient observer, the approaching cumulonimbus cloud appeared as a giant hammer from which lightning bolts penetrated the earth. Hence, the hammer-wielding Viking god associated with thunder storms and destruction, but also healing and renewal, was born in the people”'s mind. Thor was his name. In the modern world, Thor”'s considerable legacy is honored once a week (“Thor”'s day”). But what redemption might he bestow upon the suffering people of Japan? Curiously, there is a chemical element which also bears his name. Thorium, atomic number 90, has emerged as the alternative to uranium. (more…)
